If working from home is a whole new kettle of fish for you, then it can feel like a mixture of ‘Wow! Look at all this freedom!’ to ‘I miss the structure of the office’. That’s normal, in fact it’s to be expected. BUT, it’s important to ensure you keep your normal working day as structured as possible (although some things can be overlooked such as working in PJs… unless you’re video calling a major client of course). 

 

So, here are a few ideas to keep you productive and on the ball over the coming months of social distancing and WFH: 

 

• Keep your routine, set your alarm, allow time for breakfast and a peruse of Facebook, the daily news etc  
• Ensure you have a set working space so when you start your day, you ‘go to work’ at your desk  
• Keep your sofa a work-free zone, believe us when we say that sofa will be your time-off haven over the next few weeks so you’ll appreciate it more when you don’t see it as a workspace  
• Plan your lunch breaks and stick to them, it can be easy to eat at your desk but a break away from the screen will do you the world of good  
• Keep in touch with your colleagues, have staff meetings over video conferencing, use instant messaging apps, set up a work whatsapp (just make sure whatever you’re using is encrypted and secure of course).  
• Finish the day at a set time and leave your work space behind.  
• Avoid Netflix and other video streaming sites during working hours. That black hole of ‘one more episode’ will come back to bite you, we promise.  
• Keep up the communication, share your workload and to-do lists, let your colleagues know when tasks are completed, plan regular catch ups and discuss any issues as you would in the office  
• Plan an epic playlist. No more office politics over musical tastes, this is your time to shine! If you work better with heavy metal, go for it! Musicals more to your taste? Get curating! Secret love of 90’s pop music? No judgements here, turn it on up!  
• Oh and unless your job is involving social media, log off Facebook, Insta, twitter etc and stick to ‘check-in’ times. Particularly with all the news at the mo, it can be an easy distraction.

Putting all of these in place now means you’ll be able to easily step back into normal working once the Coronavirus threat is a distant memory and office working resumes.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be available anytime between 6am and 7pm (phone call or video chat) if you need to talk about anything in relation to the strategic placement of your IT services or to come up with any action plan to help with the operation of your business. This applies to our existing clients PLUS any other businesses which need support.  Give us a shout and we’ll get things sorted for you.

As you can imagine, we’ve been chockablock helping all of our clients move their IT systems to remote access. Workers across the country are now being asked to work from home for the foreseeable future, and we’re working hard to ensure all high levels of IT security and IT privacy remain at 100% for everyone despite their new home working locations. 

 

So, here are some advice and tips in the meantime to ensure you and your team can work safely and efficiently from home:

 

Security. In your office you’re fully covered with all anti-virus software, you use a secure VPN and your date is safely stored away. Ensure your team is using approved devices for work purposes only, and be sure to hammer home the impact of not using work devices for gaming, downloading etc. 

• Check all home devices have anti-virus software 
• Change WiFi passwords if being used for business purposes 
• Set up multi-factor authentication

 

Access. Ensure all data and files are kept in one secure virtual location for ease of access (no one wants to be ringing round trying to figure where that important document got saved two weeks ago right?)

• Create a list per team and then by team member as to who needs access to what. This will make things a little easier to transition

 

Equipment. What is needed per team to continue business as usual? 

• Work laptops
• Phone systems
• Any other equipment tailored to your business?
• Check in with your team to see if their home working environment is sufficent and if there’s anything you need to provide for them. We could be in this situation for a few months at least, so it’s best to address this from the start!

 

Stop! Communicate, collaborate and listen! (90’s throwback for you there – sorry, not sorry)

• We get it, as a manager you may be worrying about team productivity levels at home, particularly when it can be easy to pop a wash on, fall into a Netflix black hole etc etc. There are ways to keep up the communication and collaboration between the team like any normal working day. 
• A few things to consider are project management software, video conferencing, instant messaging, reporting and time management, Office 365 applications such as Teams, Sharepoint, One Note and Planner. 

 

Putting all of these in place now means you’ll be able to easily step back into normal working once the Coronavirus threat is a distant memory and office working resumes.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be available anytime between 6am and 7pm (phone call or video chat) if you need to talk about anything in relation to the strategic placement of your IT or to come up with any action plan to help with the operation of your business. This applies to our existing clients PLUS any other businesses which need support.  Give us a shout and we’ll get things sorted for you.